Gay rights around the world

The men, aged between 20 and 22, were also ordered to pay a fine of $120 (£70) each, Dorothy Aken'Ova, a rights activist with the Nigeria-based International Centre for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights, told the Associated Press news agency.

Rights groups were trying to raise the money - otherwise, they will remain in prison, she said.

The men should not have been convicted because they were beaten up and their confessions forced, she said.

Their families, mainly subsistence farmers, turned down an offer of legal representation because they preferred to negotiate with the judge and get the case behind them, Ms Aken'Ova said.

Nigeria is a deeply conservative country, where most people - Christian and Muslim - are opposed to homosexuality.